The Doctor's Guardian Angel
by powerstaark
Summary: Clara Oswald has lived a million lives and had a million stories. Apart from her original self, nobody will ever know them all. But this story is about some of the times she's encountered the Doctor. It contains the Eleven Doctor's, including his childhood on Gallifrey and many companions, friends and enemies.
1. Theta Sigma

Theta Sigma and Koschei chased each other over the fields of Gallifrey laughing happily as they ran. Out here, they felt free. No bossy, pompous Time Lord's telling them what to do; they could just be themselves. Even Koschei's irritating drumbeat, which he had started complaining about after looking into the Un-tempered Schism, didn't seem to bother him out here.

Then they noticed someone watching them. They stopped for a moment and looked at the girl who stood on a hill above them. She was small, slender and very pretty with long brown hair tied in a ponytail. She looked about eight, the same age as Theta and Koschei. She smiled at the boys and then came down the hill towards them.

"Can I play?" she asked shyly. Theta and Koschei looked at each other then back at her.

"Who are you?" asked Theta.

"Oswin," the girl replied, "Oswinclaraoswald. I looked into the Un-tempered Schism yesterday."

"Did you get inspired, go mad or run away?" asked Koschei. Oswin shrugged.

"I don't know yet," she admitted.

"Koschei went mad," said Theta with a smirk, "He keeps thinking he's hearing drums in his head."

"I _do _hear drums in my head," Koschei insisted crossly. Theta grabbed his head and tapped a rhythm of four beats on the top of the boy's skull, "Get off me!" Koschei snapped wrenching himself free. Oswin noticed that he did not seem to find Theta's teasing funny.

"What are your names?" she asked hoping to distract them.

"I'm Theta Sigma," said Theta, "and this is Koschei. My slightly crazy best friend."

"Shut up Thete," said Koschei grumpily.

"I don't think Koschei likes being teased," Oswin said quietly.

"Oh he knows I'm only kidding don't ya?" Theta said tapping the drum beat on Koschei's head again in what was supposed to be an affectionate manner.

"Stop it!" roared Koschei, "It's not funny anymore! I wish I'd never told you about the drums!" he turned and ran away. Theta seemed genuinely taken aback. He obviously hadn't realised that he was upsetting Koschei by constantly teasing him about the drumbeat only he could hear.

"You should consider his feelings Theta," said Oswin, "He's obviously sensitive about the drumbeat."

"You don't believe he hears it do you?" asked Theta incredulously.

"No but that doesn't mean you should tease him about it," Oswin replied.

"Who are you my mother?" Theta asked grumpily. Oswin glared at him.

"I know you're mother," she said, "She's on her third regeneration already."

"How do you know my mum?" asked Theta, "I've never met you before!"

"My mother's a friend of your mothers," Oswin explained, "She didn't want me interacting with you because she thought you were too much trouble. I think she was right." She walked away and Theta watched her leave with a slightly shocked expression.

Standing on another hill was a man who watched the children with an evil smile. Theta's relationship with Koschei had already been tainted by the drumbeat, which the Great Intelligence knew was real. Now he just needed to turn Koschei's resentment towards Theta into hatred, poisoning the first true friendship Theta had ever made.


	2. First Doctor

"Hurry Susan," the Doctor said looking around anxiously, "We have only a few minutes to get out of here!" he ushered his granddaughter into a random TARDIS. As he was about to enter himself however a voice spoke up.

"Doctor," the Doctor glanced around and saw a young woman, or at least she looked young but regeneration could do that to a person. The Doctor was looking forward to getting a younger body for himself, although he wasn't going to throw away his first life just to get one. The woman looked familiar but for the life of him the Doctor had no idea where he'd seen her before.

"Yes, who are you, what do you want?" he said impatiently, glancing around to make sure they weren't being watched. The woman seemed very calm.

"Sorry," she said, "But you're about to make a very big mistake." She smiled and leaned against another TARDIS, "Don't steal that one steal this one. The navigation system's knackered but you'll have much more fun." The Doctor stared at her for a moment.

"Who are you child?" he asked. The woman looked slightly annoyed at being called a child but she didn't complain. If she hadn't time travelled to this point she would be the same age as the Doctor by now.

"Oswin," she said, "Oswinclaraoswald."

"I remember your name," the Doctor said thoughtfully. He couldn't remember where he had heard the name though.

"And I remember yours, Theta Sigma," Oswin replied. The Doctor stiffened at the sound of his name.

"I don't go by that name anymore," he said.

"I know," Oswin said and then alarms sounded. The Doctor jumped but Oswin didn't react except to say, "Took them long enough. Well as I was saying Doctor, this TARDIS will be much more reliable."

"How can you be sure?" asked the Doctor anxiously. At that moment Susan appeared from the TARDIS he was standing next to.

"I don't like that TARDIS grandfather," she said, "There's a presence in there and it's not the TARDIS' soul. It's something evil!" The Doctor looked intrigued but Oswin interrupted them speaking more urgently than before.

"Look get out now or security will catch you!" she ordered. The Doctor and Susan needed no further persuading. Susan hurried into the TARDIS giving Oswin a brief nod of thanks. The Doctor glanced back at Oswin in the doorway.

"Thank you young lady," he said, "Perhaps I will see you again sometime." He wasn't expecting that they would meet again but Oswin smiled optimistically. The Doctor remembered a time when he had been that young and happy.

"Oh I'm sure you will," Oswin said as the Doctor closed the door. Oswin watched the TARDIS dematerialise and then started whistling casually as she left the workshop, completely ignoring the alarms blaring around her.

**I think it's fairly obvious what the evil presence in the other TARDIS is but I'll confirm it anyway. It's the Great Intelligence without a body.**


	3. Second Doctor

The Second Doctor very nearly crossed paths with his Eighth incarnation on a sandy beach. However the Eighth Doctor, having just been summoned to participate in the Last Great Time War, was in a hurry and didn't notice the Second Doctor while the Second Doctor just didn't recognise him because the Eighth was in his future. Besides he was busy trying to find Zoe and Jamie. They were investigating a bunch of attacks on various parts of the planet, launched by a force that seemed to be testing the planets strength. The Eighth Doctor had landed on the planet accidentally and didn't even remember it from his Second incarnation.

The Second Doctor didn't notice the young woman as he ran past her but she noticed him. Clara was momentarily confused; somehow she sensed that the Second and Eighth Doctors were both the same man but since the Second was closer she chose to follow him. Clara had no idea what drew her to the man but something deep inside her was telling her that she needed to keep an eye on him. He seemed like the kind of man who was always getting into trouble.

And of course he did get into trouble. The Sycorax, who used teleport technology to beam down to the beach, invaded the planet. The Doctor skidded to a halt as the leading Sycorax ordered his warriors to kill everyone. Wielding swords and energy whips the Sycorax started to slaughter all the people on the beach.

It was a massacre; the defenceless natives had no chance against the vicious invaders. The Doctor hesitated, torn between helping the dying people and finding Jamie and Zoe. He was going to need their help; he couldn't defeat the Sycorax alone. He'd never encountered them before so he didn't know their weaknesses and he couldn't fight them head on. He wasn't a warrior. Not yet.

One of the Sycorax warriors noticed him. A bloodthirsty grin appeared and his energy whip lashed out with blinding speed. Before the lethal whip struck someone small but strong shoved the Doctor to the ground. He fell face first and behind him he heard his rescuer let out an agonised scream as the energy whip wrapped around her neck and disintegrated her flesh. The Doctor rolled over but the energy whip was so powerful it had turned the unfortunate woman into charred bones within the two seconds it took for him to turn and face her.

That was the last straw for the Doctor. Whoever that woman was she had just saved his life. If his flesh disintegrated as quickly as hers he wouldn't have time for a regeneration. He was going to repay her by saving the planet. Before the Sycorax could strike again, the Doctor struggled to his feet and ran as fast as he could to find Jamie and Zoe. They would stop the Sycorax together.


	4. Third Doctor

Women were often given a hard time in UNIT. However Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart had taken a liking to Clara Oswald. She was slightly flirtatious, but she was good at her job. In training she had proven she could beat any man besides the Brigadier himself with a gun. Clara was beautiful, friendly and hard working. Almost all of the men in UNIT, apart from the Brigadier, who liked her because of her competence and skill, and the Doctor, who'd never even spoken to her, were attracted to Clara and she often had to fend off sexual advances. She didn't mind when they flirted with her – she occasionally flirted back – but anyone who actually tried to get her in bed with him would receive at least one broken bone. Clara was small, but she was very strong.

One day Clara was sent to find the Doctor. She'd never spoken to him in person, but he was well known in UNIT. She was looking forward to finally getting a chance to look inside the big blue box with the Doctor called a TARDIS. She'd heard rumours that it was bigger on the inside.

When she arrived at the TARDIS she knocked on the door. "Doctor!" she called, "Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart needs to speak to you!" There was no reply. Clara knocked again. Still nothing. She noticed that the door was unlocked. If the Doctor wasn't in there, she thought he would lock the door. Cautiously she pushed it open.

There was a man in the TARDIS but he was not the Doctor. He was tall with a long face and blue eyes. Clara reached for her gun.

"Who the hell are you?" she asked suspiciously.

"I am here to help the Doctor escape from this god forsaken planet," the man replied, "The Brigadier called me to fix his TARDIS."

"And what would you know about a TARDIS?" asked Clara suspiciously, "This is the only one of its kind on the planet."

"I'm an expert at alien technology," the man said.

"Then why aren't you a member of UNIT?" Clara retorted without missing a beat. The man hesitated only for a second but it was enough. Clara knew that he was an imposter, and he was probably trying to sabotage the TARDIS. She wasn't sure why – according to the Brigadier it couldn't travel at the moment anyway – but she knew she couldn't let it happen.

"I'm also a member of Torchwood," the man said after his short but slightly too long hesitation but Clara didn't believe him. She pulled out her gun and aimed it at him.

"Let's see if the Brigadier recognises you," she said, "You're coming with me!" The man sighed in irritation.

"You are no match for me girl," he said, "You may be impossible but I am the Great Intelligence and I have become the most powerful mind in the Universe."

"Why am I impossible?" asked Clara. The Great Intelligence smirked.

"You won't find out in this life," he said and lunged at her. Clara fired her gun, shooting him in the chest right through the place where his heart should be. The Intelligence stumbled but to Clara's shock his injury healed without any trace of blood. He slammed her through the doors of the TARDIS before seizing her around the throat. His grip was terrifyingly strong. Clara struggled desperately but the Intelligence's grip tightened. Her vision was starting to turn black. The Intelligence chuckled sadistically.

Then the Brigadier, who burst into the room, noticed the situation, and opened fire within three seconds flat, shot him repeatedly in the head. Of course mere bullets couldn't kill the Intelligence but he still recoiled; he may be immortal, or at least very close to it, but bullets were irritating nevertheless. He turned to the TARDIS but the sentient Time Machine automatically closed and locked her doors while the Brigadier emptied his barrel into the Intelligence's body. With a snarl the Intelligence turned but then Clara yelled at the Brigadier.

"Grenade now!" she cried in a tone that sounded like an order, despite her rank being lower than the Brigadier's. The Brigadier took a grenade from his belt and threw it at the Great Intelligence. The Intelligence tried to move away but Clara had instinctively guessed that he would be more intimidated by grenades than by bullets so she threw herself at him wrapping both arms around his waist and shoving him right on top of the grenade. Before Clara could get up and move away the blast blew her and the Intelligence apart killing Clara instantly and forcing the disembodied entity to flee. He was going to have to build himself a new physical form.


	5. Fourth Doctor

The Fourth Doctor was on the planet Kahler, home of the Kahler Species who was currently in the middle of a ferocious war. Sarah-Jane was following him through a ravaged street, when suddenly a group of Kahler cyborg's appeared. All of them were heavily armed.

"Run!" cried the Doctor and he and Sarah, as the Doctor often called her, ran for their lives. The Doctor's long scarf flapped behind him and he stayed in the middle of the street so that it wouldn't catch on anything and slow him down. They skidded around a corner and then someone stepped between them and the incoming Kahlers. Sarah and the Doctor both glanced back.

The woman did not look like a Kahler because she had no facial markings on the right side of her face, the only side that was made of flesh. The left side of her head was completely metal but Kahler's never covered their facial markings so if she'd had any they would have been on the right side. The Doctor had never seen a Kahler without facial markings before. He didn't think they existed. If not for the fact that humans hadn't even travelled to the moon yet at this point in time, he would swear that the woman was a human.

The woman's right arm had been severed at the elbow and replaced with a large cannon, which seemed too big for her slender arm. The right side of her head had long dark hair, which looked like it hadn't been brushed for a long time; she probably couldn't be bothered to brush it now that she was a cyborg. The Doctor instantly felt sorry for her. It was obvious that she had been stunning before she was turned into a cyborg.

"Go both of you!" she ordered, "I'll hold them off!" The Doctor and Sarah-Jane both hesitated then the Doctor ducked as a blast shot over his head. "Go now!" The woman yelled as she blasted the Kahler that had aimed at the Doctor with her cannon arm before turning her head and glaring at them through the one brown eye that remained. The other had been replaced by what looked like a mechanical monocle except it had no chain, "I've got nothing left to live for anyway! Run!" The Doctor turned and fled pulling Sarah-Jane along with him even as she protested about leaving the woman to face the incoming Kahler's alone.

A few minutes later Kahler-Clara died while the Doctor and Sarah-Jane escaped in the TARDIS. The Doctor realised that Sarah-Jane was going to be furious with him for abandoning the woman who had saved both of their lives.

They never even knew her name.


	6. Fifth Doctor

Clara watched the Fifth Doctor carry Peri towards the TARDIS. He was stumbling; the same poison that was killing his companion had infected him. Then Clara noticed a man standing on the edge of a sand bank. She didn't know who he was, yet she had a feeling deep inside her that he was there to cause harm.

Clara had a gun she had stolen from one of the soldiers on the planet. She had never used a gun before but she had somehow sensed she would need it. As she reached for it the man on the sand bank disintegrated and turned into sand. Clara then saw the sand rising and falling as if something was burrowing beneath it. It was heading towards the TARDIS.

Clara rushed down the sand bank slipping as she raced the sand towards the big blue box. She had no idea what she was doing; all she knew was that she couldn't let the sand reach the TARDIS. The sand rose up and materialised in the shape of the same man she had seen on the sand bank. The TARDIS door was closed but unlocked. The man reached for it. At the same moment Clara raised her gun and fired it into the man's back. He gasped with pain but then whirled around his face a mask of fury.

"You again!" he roared. Clara was confused. She had never seen the man before, and she was sure she would remember if she saw one who could turn into sand. She shot him several times as he stormed towards her, slowing him down but he refused to fall. He didn't even bleed. Clara was getting frightened. She backed away.

Then the TARDIS started to fade away having locked her own doors since the Doctor had forgotten to do so. The man turned towards it and let out a roar of fury. Then he turned towards Clara.

"You should never have gotten involved with the Doctor!" he bellowed and disintegrated into sand once more. Clara looked around expecting him to materialise and kill her but he seemed to have vanished.

Then the mud beneath Clara exploded and she screamed in agony as the boiling mud engulfed her. Through her agony she thought she heard the sound of something laughing.

Then Clara died.


	7. Sixth Doctor

Clara Oswald ran through the TARDIS as if she had lived there all her life. The funny thing was she was sure she had never set foot in the TARDIS. Hell, she shouldn't even know that it was called a TARDIS!

The Sixth Doctor walked past her. She caught a glimpse of his ridiculous coat and hurried after him.

"Hello?" she called. The Doctor spun around.

"Who are you?" he said suspiciously, "How did you get on board my TARDIS? Did you use a transmat? Are you a stowaway?"

"No," Clara said, "I just need to…" the truth was, she didn't know why she was here. She had stepped into the blue box that was smaller on the outside while the Doctor had been in another part of the TARDIS and started exploring but she knew it wasn't only curiosity that had led her here.

"Listen young lady," the Sixth Doctor said aggressively, "I do not welcome strangers on board my TARDIS! Only when they have proven themselves can they…" he stopped and looked behind her. Clara spun around.

A man was walking down the corridor as casually as if he owned the place. Clara had a sudden sense of déjà vu. She knew this man, but it was as though she knew him from another life. Of course she _did _know him from another life, hundreds of lives actually, but she couldn't remember them.

"Clara Oswald," the man said, "the girl who dies and dies again." A knife appeared simply materialising in his hand. Whispermen were hard to create and maintain but knives were easy for such a powerful entity, "Die once more!" he hurled it at her. Clara ducked and the Sixth Doctor jumped aside. When they looked back the man was gone.

"The control room," Clara said, instinctively knowing where he had gone. She sprinted past the bewildered Doctor and found the control room in no time. The man stood before the controls examining the Heart of the TARDIS.

"If I take control…" he said but Clara lunged at him. Without turning he sensed her coming because his body disintegrated. Clara stared in confusion. Then she felt a burning pain in her back as another knife conjured from thin air stabbed into her. The man chuckled and whispered in her ear, "You were foolish to think you could challenge the Great Intelligence girl." He twisted the knife and then it disintegrated but the wound remained.

"You bastard!" bellowed the Sixth Doctor and then looked up at the central column, "You want to get into the Heart of the TARDIS? Fine! You should be more careful what you wish for!" He pressed a variety of buttons on the console and then wrenched a lever, which he almost never used. The Heart of the TARDIS burst open and Vortex energy swirled out. The Great Intelligence laughed but then his laughter froze as the TARDIS rumbled like a predator that had been woken from a peaceful sleep. Clara dragged herself across the floor. The Sixth Doctor collapsed; this was going to cost him a life.

"You underestimate the TARDIS' power," panted Clara, "That's you're weakness Great Intelligence; your own arrogance!"

"How do you know about TARDIS's?" asked the Doctor.

"I have no idea," Clara said truthfully. The Intelligence's face was stripped away and he howled. A disembodied entity shouldn't feel pain but the Heart of the TARDIS really was far more powerful than he realised. It made jumping into the Eleventh Doctor's time stream seem insignificant by comparison.

The Sixth Doctor stumbled towards the control panel and pressed a few buttons. The doors around them all slammed shut, "Mel can't regenerate," panted the Doctor to himself, "Can't have the Vortex energy spreading through the whole TARDIS!" The Great Intelligence turned even as his body was falling apart. Clara, in a display of strength that should be impossible for someone who'd just been stabbed in the back, lifted herself and threw herself at the Intelligence grabbing him around the knees. The Intelligence toppled and screamed in rage. Clara felt his body disintegrating beneath her fingers. Her own body was doing the same and it hurt like hell but if the Intelligence reached the Doctor, regeneration would be impossible.

"Damn you Impossible Girl!" the Great Intelligence shrieked as his body was destroyed. The Doctor stumbled to Clara, still trying to hold back the regeneration energy. She smiled at him.

"Run you clever boy…" she gasped, "and remember…" Her body disintegrated in a shower of golden energy. The energy was pulled into the Heart of the TARDIS and it slammed shut, leaving the Sixth Doctor staring at the place where the mysterious girl had just been.

"Doctor!" cried Mel pounding on the doors of the control room, "What's going on in there?" The Doctor opened the doors and tried to straighten up.

"Had a little problem with the TARDIS," he said trying to sound cheerful, "Couldn't let the energy out of the control room…" he winced with pain, "you would have died. But it's…" he grimaced again, "fine now!"

"What's wrong?" asked Mel. Suddenly the TARDIS jerked violently as missiles slammed into it. The Doctor slammed his head on the control panel. The force of the blow knocked him temporarily unconscious but fortunately regeneration did not require a Time Lord to be conscious – if anything being unconscious made the process easier or at least less painful – so the Doctor started changing his form even as the Rani entered the TARDIS.

Unfortunately the bang on the head, combined with the side effects of regeneration, also caused him to forget the few minutes before his sixth life ended.


	8. Seventh Doctor

The Seventh Doctor's finger was on a big red button. Normally a red button was one he would avoid but right now he needed to press it. The Cybermen had converted Ace and she had just tried to kill him. There was nothing he could do for her. The best he could do was destroying the Cybermen and avenge her.

But that would mean blowing himself up along with them.

The Doctor had faced death more times than he could count but he wasn't suicidal. His finger trembled over the button.

Then a door slid open. A Cyberman stomped into the control room. The Doctor turned and pulled out a gun Ace had given to him before she was converted and he aimed it at the Cyberman. This incarnation of him had forbidden himself to use guns but now that he had lost the girl who had been like a daughter to him he didn't care about that anymore.

Besides he'd blown up Skaro. Or more precisely a copy of Skaro, which had probably had innocent people living on it. Using a gun was nothing compared to that.

"Wait!" cried the Cyberman raising its hands, "I'm here to help you!"

"You're friends converted Ace," snarled the Doctor, "You'll all pay!" His finger tightened on the trigger. With surprising agility the Cyberman dodged the blast. But it made no attempt to fight back.

"Doctor. Listen," it pleaded, "I know what you're about to do. Let me do it. Escape while you have the chance." The Seventh Doctor raised his eyebrows sceptically.

"You want to sacrifice yourself?" he said, "But you're a Cyberman!"

"Cyberwoman actually," she replied and somehow managed to sound indignant despite her mechanical voice.

"Ace?" the Doctor asked hopefully. Perhaps she had managed to fight the conversion after all.

"I'm afraid not," said the Cyberwoman, "You're friend wasn't strong enough to resist the conversion. Conversions are difficult to fight but not impossible. It seems this Ace person just didn't have the strength to stop it."

"She wasn't weak!" snarled the Doctor.

"I didn't say she was," the Cyberwoman said calmly, "Believe me resisting a Cyberman conversion is very difficult. I know because I've experienced it." She patted her chest "I'm still human on the inside though."

"How do I know you're not just trying to trick me?" asked the Doctor suspiciously. As he spoke three more Cybermen barged through the door.

"There he is!" bellowed one of them, "Delete him!" The Cyberwoman lunged at the Doctor and grabbed his gun wrenching it out of his hands. But instead of shooting him she spun around and shot all three of the Cybermen, destroying them.

"You see?" she said, "I'm on your side." She tossed the gun back to him. The Doctor noticed that despite her metal body, the Cyberwoman's movements were surprisingly human, not like the stiff mechanical movements of the Cybermen, "Now if you want to live I suggest you run! Run you clever boy and remember!" The Doctor stared at the mysterious Cyberwoman.

"Who are you?" he said.

"Lara," said the Cyberwoman, "Now run!" The Doctor stared at her a moment longer. Then he turned and ran.

Lara watched the Doctor run out of the control room. If she could have smiled she would have. Being a Cyberwoman was better than being a Dalek although of course this version of her couldn't remember being a Dalek. At least Cyberwomen were shaped roughly like humans, had arms and legs, and unlike Dalek's they were not filled with hatred. They were cold and logical but not hateful. Lara had managed to keep hold of her emotions or at least her memories of those emotions. She couldn't actually feel them anymore, but it was better than the complete emptiness of a Cyberman.

Lara pressed the red button. She only had a second to appreciate heat for the first time since her conversion before she perished along with all the other Cybermen.


	9. Eighth Doctor

The Eighth Doctor wiped tears from his eyes as he watched Gallifrey burn all around him. It would take only a few moments before the entire planet was consumed. He stumbled towards the TARDIS relieved to be rid of the Moment, which had torn him apart. Smoke stung his already tear soaked eyes; he could barely see the comforting blue box waiting for him.

Then a Dalek appeared. It was damaged but as soon as it saw the Eighth Doctor it screeched "Exterminate!" The Doctor collapsed as the Dalek's laser beam hit him. If it had been at full strength it would have killed him instantly but fortunately the Dalek was too badly damaged. Even so he was going to have to regenerate in order to survive.

He didn't want to.

Then the Dalek exploded. From the burning fields of Gallifrey appeared an angel. A gorgeous young woman holding a large gun appeared. She tossed the gun aside and ran to the Doctor. His eyes were blurred with tears so he couldn't see her properly but he could tell she was beautiful.

"Come on Doctor!" she said, "You can't regenerate here; you don't have time!"

"Who…who are you?" croaked the Doctor still half blinded by his tears.

"Never mind!" snapped the woman putting one of his arms around her small shoulders and half dragging him towards the TARDIS. The Doctor was barely able to move his feet so she had to do most of the work. Despite her small size the woman was strong, "Just get inside!" The Doctor stumbled into the TARDIS and turned to her in the doorway.

"Come with me," he said then grimaced in agony as regeneration energy started to emerge from his hands. The woman stepped to the TARDIS but then another angry Dalek descended, levitating above the fire and smoke like a metallic nightmare. A blast, this time one at full power, shot out from its gun. The Doctor's mysterious saviour screamed in agony and collapsed only inches away from the TARDIS' open doors. That bolt had been fatal. She didn't even get a chance to regenerate. "No!" cried the Doctor and reached out intending to pull her body into the TARDIS but then the doors slammed shut. Without encouragement, the TARDIS took off as Gallifrey was consumed by fire.

A few moments later the Doctor was consumed by regeneration energy. He hadn't been able to see her properly through the smoke and tears but his last thought in his Eighth body was of the mysterious and beautiful angel who had saved his life.

As the Doctor fled, a shadow watched the TARDIS leave. The shadow was always there. Stalking the Doctor. He had tried running. He had been running all his life. Or lives as the Eighth Doctor would call them. But the shadow would never leave him. It _couldn't_ leave him. Whenever the Doctor was at his worst, the shadow was there. People rarely noticed him. He was like a ghost. Occasionally he would gain a physical form. He went by many names. Storm. The Beast. The Dream Lord. The Valeyard. None of his forms lasted long.

But the Doctor could always see him.

Theta Sigma looked sorrowfully down at Oswinclaraoswald. The Doctor could always see him, yet he almost never saw her and when he did she was either in a non-human form, such as a Dalek or a Cyberwoman, or he just forgot her because he was too selfish and ungrateful to appreciate what she'd done for him. This was the closest Theta had come to meeting Oswin since their first encounter on the fields of Gallifrey all those centuries ago. He remembered her even if his counterpart did not on a conscious level. In that way Theta was better than the Doctor.

Oswin was the only one of Clara's echoes who had met the Doctor more than once in her lifetime. She was also the only one who had met his true self. Despite that she wouldn't recognise Theta; when the real Clara saw him in the Doctor's time stream she said she'd never seen this incarnation. He'd grown old and was nothing like the boy she'd scolded about teasing his former best friend. Oswin never physically grew old. She had the unique ability to stay in the same form whenever she regenerated, an ability that should be impossible. But then of course she was the Impossible Girl.

Theta's body disintegrated in a manner that was disturbingly similar to the Great Intelligence. The shadow followed the Doctor. He would always follow the Doctor. He _was _the Doctor.

He left Gallifrey to burn.


	10. Ninth Doctor

The Ninth Doctor remembered the mysterious girl who had saved him from the devastation of the Time War. However he'd never been able to see her properly due to the tears and smoke that had blurred his vision as Gallifrey burned so when he passed Cara Oswin on the street at President Kennedy's assassination, he didn't even glance at her. He was too busy wallowing in his grief and guilt to pay attention to anyone around him. He ignored the fact that everyone was glancing at his odd clothes. He hadn't changed out of his Eighth incarnation's outfit yet.

The Doctor never realised that Kennedy was not the intended target. The Great Intelligence had never handled primitive human weapons before but he had to admit he rather liked this particular one. Perhaps he should use Human weapons more often instead of conjuring them from thin air. On this occasion he had taken a different form, that of Lee Harvey Oswald. Kennedy's assassination was a fixed point in time but the Intelligence thought this was the perfect time to kill the Doctor, while he was still vulnerable from the effects of the Time War. He would deal with Kennedy afterwards.

"What the hell are you doing!" shouted Cara. The Intelligence had grown used to her interfering with his plans by now so he spun towards her intending to shoot her through the head before she could do anything. Cara did not remember their previous encounters – they had been in different lives after all and unlike the Intelligence, who could remember everything it had ever done even if they were in different lives, she could not remember everything she did throughout her millions of lives – but somehow she seemed to anticipate his attack. She darted forwards and shoved his rifle sideways and slightly downwards just as the Intelligence squeezed the trigger.

The bullet hit President Kennedy. Cara gasped as she realised that she had accidentally aimed the gun at him. The Doctor saw Kennedy die but he just shrugged indifferently. It was a fixed point after all. He decided he needed new clothes so he went back to the TARDIS to change into something more suitable for a war torn soldier.

Shortly afterwards the body of a young woman was found after she had been thrown off the roof. The assassin was gone. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for both murders.


	11. Tenth Doctor

The Tenth Doctor left River Song's diary on the banister of the Library with her Sonic Screwdriver on top of it. As he and Donna Noble walked away a young woman went past them. She had long dark hair and was wearing a red dress with a tool belt. The girl glanced at the Doctor and smiled showing beautiful dimples in her cheeks.

"Hello handsome," she said with a flirtatious wink, "Don't forget the spanner." She left and the Doctor watched her leave in confusion. Then he realised what she meant and rushed back to the screwdriver, picking it up and examining it closely.

"Why!" he said, "Why would I give her my screwdriver? Why would I do that? All those years I could think of a way to save her! Future me gave her a screwdriver! Why would I do that?" Then he saw it. The little panel that showed River's data ghost was still hanging on. "Oh. Oh! Look at that! I'm very good!"

"What have you done?" asked Donna. The Doctor beamed and held up the screwdriver.

"Saved her!" he said and ran. He skidded to a halt as he saw the mysterious girl in the doorway to the lobby where the rocket had landed. She caught his eye and smiled when she saw the screwdriver. "Thank you!" the Doctor said and sprinted towards the data core. He was so full of excitement and adrenaline that he didn't even wonder why the girl was familiar.

"Run you clever boy," Laura Oswin said. Then she turned and mingled with the crowd of people who had been brought out of the data core. She suddenly stiffened as she got a sense of danger coming from a man whom she felt she had seen before.

The Great Intelligence materialised in the room and pushed through the crowd towards the doors without noticing Laura. After so many encounters, even if they were in different lives, the echoes of Clara Oswald could recognise the Intelligence no matter what form it was in, through instinct if nothing else. As usual it was using Walter Simeon's image. Laura turned to one of the nearest shadows.

"Hello?" she said, "Vashta Nerada?" The shadow extended slightly. The Vashta Nerada were surprised that someone was speaking to them; only the Doctor had ever actually tried to communicate with the carnivorous shadows. Laura stayed out of reach; she'd been rescued by CAL when the Vashta Nerada conquered the planet but she knew what they were capable of, "Listen there's someone here who wants to destroy the library and all the Vashta Nerada along with it," she was lying; the Great Intelligence only wanted to destroy the Doctor. However the Vashta Nerada didn't know that, "He's planning to set off a bomb at the data core. And he's right over there!" she pointed to the Great Intelligence as he left the room, "You could eat him and stop him from destroying the planet." The Vashta Nerada apparently agreed and the shadow retracted. As deadly as the Vashta Nerada were they could be manipulated by fear. The Doctor could have been killed as easily as any of the humans on the planet – he wouldn't have had time to regenerate – but the Vashta Nerada had been too scared to attack him.

A few minutes later the Great Intelligence was consumed by the ferocious shadows. Meanwhile Laura escaped from the planet with the other people from the data core. This was one of the few times where saving the Doctor had not resulted in one of Clara Oswald's countless deaths. And for once, the Doctor had noticed her.

Once in a while, everybody lives.


	12. Eleventh Doctor

The Doctor sat beside Clara as she lay on her bed in the Maitland house. She had been lying there for hours and he had refused to leave her side. Angie and Artie thought it was cute but they had no idea what Clara had gone through on Trenzalore.

The Doctor hated himself.

Of course this incarnation of him had never really liked himself. He wasn't like his self-loving Tenth incarnation but he had never hated himself more than he did now, not even when he Time Locked the Time War. And it wasn't just because he had seen his forgotten incarnation when he rescued Clara from his time stream. In fact he had almost forgotten about that; he had supressed that incarnation for so long that forgetting him was like second nature to him.

Clara had suffered because of him. And he had accused her of being a trick or a trap. She had saved him, or at least helped him, a million times, usually rescuing him from the Great Intelligence but also from other threats such as the Daleks and the Cybermen. Every single one of her incarnations had helped him in someway. Not always directly but she had always been there for him. And he'd been suspicious, even downright hostile towards her. It was like when he had been suspicious of River Song but it was worse this time. Perhaps it was because River had been born to kill him; there was bound to be some tension even if she was his wife. But Clara had been completely innocent. All she'd ever wanted to do was travel and help people.

But his irrational suspicion of Clara wasn't the only thing, or even the most significant thing that caused the Doctor's overwhelming guilt and shame. She had done so much for him and she had only asked for one thing in return.

She only wanted to be remembered.

Until the Dalek Asylum the Doctor couldn't even do that.

Clara stirred and moaned softly. The Doctor felt tears building. This was all, his fault. It always was but he'd never felt it as strongly as he did now.

"Doctor?" Clara said quietly looking up at him with her beautiful brown eyes. The Doctor tried to smile but he felt too guilty and angry with himself.

"Are you okay?" he said softly.

"My head feels overcrowded," Clara mumbled and put one hand on her forehead.

"How much do you remember?" he was afraid of her answer. There was a short silence.

"Everything," Clara said and the Doctor's hearts broke.

"Clara I'm so sorry!" he said, "This was all my fault! If I hadn't let my damn curiosity get the better of me this would never have happened!"

"Doctor…" Clara began but the Doctor interrupted her.

"Don't make excuses for me Clara!" he cried, "I was such a stupid, selfish, ungrateful old fool! After everything you did for me I was suspicious! And that's not even the worst part! I couldn't even remember you until the Dalek Asylum! That was the only thing you asked for in return for saving my worthless life and I couldn't even do that!" He was crying hard. Clara sat up and pulled him to her.

"You're not worthless Doctor," she said, "You're the saviour of worlds."

"No I'm not," the Doctor said, "_You're_ the saviour of worlds. Actually you're the saviour of the entire Universe. I'm the destroyer of worlds. Remember the Dalek Asylum or the fake Skaro or Gallifrey. All of them went up in flames because of me. Everywhere I go death follows me. You've died for me a million times."

"That's true but there were good times too," Clara told him. The Doctor looked at her hopefully.

"Really?" he said. Clara nodded.

"Believe it or not I didn't always die saving you," she said, "Yes I died a million times but sometimes I lived long happy lives. For example after I saved you and reminded you about River's data ghost in the Library I went back home, got married and even had a child. And I got to meet all of your companions at least once. I became quite close to some of them."

"Don't you hate me?" asked the Doctor, "After everything I put you through?" Clara laughed softly.

"You may be the great Lord and Master of Time and Space but sometimes you're just so…human," she said, "Of course I don't hate you. In fact I love you." The Doctor wasn't sure if she meant that romantically or not but either way it made him feel better.

"I wish I could repay you," he said, "I owe you my life a million times over. That's a debt I can't ever repay. I don't have enough regenerations and even if I did…"

"I'm human," said Clara softly, "I'll probably die before you."

"It's not good for you to have all those memories in your head," the Doctor said, "You're mind will burn."

"I've been inside your time stream, remember?" Clara smiled, "Everything that's you is in there, including your DNA. I think I picked up a bit of that when you brought me out."

"Donna had some Time Lord DNA but I still had to wipe her memory," the Doctor said.

"Well you're not wiping mine," Clara said firmly, "I didn't live a million lives just for you to erase them. If my mind burns so be it. But I don't think it will. Being in your time stream gave me enough Time Lord DNA to deal with the memories."

"Can you regenerate?" the Doctor asked hopefully.

"I doubt it," Clara said, "But I might have a longer lifespan than other humans," she shrugged, "We'll see. But I'm staying with you Doctor. No matter what."

The Doctor loved Clara so much. He was incredibly lucky to have her and so was the Universe. Clara Oswald was the most important woman who had ever lived. He wished he had realised sooner but, ironically, he couldn't change his past. He put a hand on her cheek.

"Clara. My beautiful Clara," he kissed her softly on the lips and whispered, "My guardian angel."


	13. Jack Harkness

Laura Win cautiously stepped out into the street. The invading Sycorax had retreated. Laura wasn't entirely sure what the invasion had been about, but she was glad the aliens were gone. Then she saw something lying on the street.

It was a hand.

Laura hesitated and looked around uncertainly before looking back at the hand. It looked like a human hand but there was no blood coming from the wrist where it had been severed. She wondered if it was a fake as she picked it up. It was warm, as though it had only just been severed from the unfortunate person's body. She examined the wrist. Where there should have been blood there was only healed skin. Laura wondered if she should leave it on the street but then decided not to and took it back into her flat.

Laura spent hours examining the mysterious hand. She wondered if there was anyone she could talk to about it. That night she put the hand in a drawer as she went to bed.

Her flat was broken into that night. A creature that certainly wasn't human smashed its way in through her window. Laura heard glass shattering and jumped out of bed looking around for something to defend herself. Then the door of her bedroom burst open and she screamed as a creature with a head that looked like that of a blowfish burst inside. The thing was holding a gun and someone was behind it.

"Stay back!" bellowed the blowfish grabbing Laura around the neck and pressing his gun to her head, "I'd hate to have to blow her pretty little head off but I will if you provoke me."

"Think carefully about what you're doing," said a tall, handsome man in a long coat who was holding a gun of his own, "You come quietly and I can send you home. You harm her and I'll kill you."

"I don't wanna leave this planet," said the blowfish, "There's a lot of stuff here. And pretty women." He whispered the last part into Laura's ear and she shivered as she realised what was going through his mind, "That was a compliment sweetie."

"Look," said the man in the coat, "Thievery is one thing, but rape is another. If you're gonna continue being a serial rapist at least don't do it on this planet. There are other planets you can wreak havoc on out there in the Universe."

"The Rift might send me into the middle of space," said the blowfish, "You of all people know how volatile it is."

"The girl has nothing to do with this," the man protested, "Let her go now!"

"No," said the blowfish and took his gun away from Laura's head, pointed it at the man, and fired. Laura screamed as the man collapsed with a hole in his head, "Now then my beauty," said the alien murderer covering her mouth to stifle her scream, "You and I are going to have a little fun." He threw her onto the bed. Laura knew that he was going to rape her and then kill her. They probably weren't even genetically compatible but he was going to do it anyway.

Another bang from a gun echoed through the flat. The blowfish collapsed with a hole in the side of his head. Laura, still trapped beneath his body, was struggling not to cry. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," said the voice of the man and Laura opened her eyes to see him standing in front of her bed. He pulled the blowfish's corpse off her then looked at the blood stained sheets and grimaced, "Sorry about the mess."

"How…you died…" Laura gasped, "How did you…?"

"I'm immortal," the man said shrugging, "It's a long story. Are you okay?" Laura swallowed and nodded not trusting herself to speak. "I'm Captain Jack Harkness by the way," the man gave her a charming smile before offering his hand to help her sit up.

"Laura Win," Laura replied still looking rather scared by what had happened.

"Nice to meet you Laura Win," said Jack winking, "Maybe I'll see you around sometime."

"You…chase aliens?" Laura guessed shakily.

"That's right," said Jack.

"In that case can you tell me anything about this?" Laura opened her drawer and showed him the severed hand. Jack suddenly went very still and gazed at the hand with a very serious expression.

"Where did you get this?" he said taking it from her gently and examining it carefully.

"I found it on the street," Laura said examining the man who was staring at the hand as though it was a priceless treasure, "It must be an alien hand. There's no blood coming out of it; the skins healed over and human skin doesn't heal that quickly, especially when part of their body has been severed."

"Yes," Jack said absentmindedly then snapped out of his daze and smiled at her, "Mind if I keep this? It could be very useful to me." Laura shrugged.

"Okay," she said, "It's of no use to me." Jack put the hand into the pocket of his large coat then threw the blowfishes corpse over his shoulder.

"I imagine you won't want to sleep here tonight," he said grinning flirtatiously, "Are you single? I know a great place where you can sleep. I can keep you company if you want."

"Down boy," Laura said but followed him anyway. She wasn't going to sleep in a bed covered with blood. Also she was single, she'd had a bad night and Captain Jack Harkness was a very handsome man who had probably just saved her life.


	14. Face of Boe

_Hello Clara Montague,_ said the Face of Boe telepathically as the young nurse came into his hospital room. She smiled at him and the Face smiled back. He liked Clara. Loved her in fact. She was the only person apart from the Doctor whom he considered family. Of course Clara didn't know that; she thought the Face of Boe merely saw her as a friend but truthfully she was the only person besides the Doctor whom the Face felt was a kindred spirit. After all she had, from a certain point of view, lived as long as he had, though only her original self and her Time Lady incarnation were aware of it. This echo of Clara had no idea how important she was. The Face of Boe had met many of her incarnations during his long, long life. The first time was when he had found the Tenth Doctor's severed hand in her drawer. It had been centuries before he connected the dots and realised that the same woman, though she often went by different names, had been split through time and space.

"Hello Jack Harkness," she said coming over to him and smiling warmly, "How are you feeling?"

_Better_, said the Face, _My last death took a long time to recover from. I do not think my life force will last much longer._

"I think you've still got a century or so left Jack," Clara said. She was the only person who knew who the Face of Boe had once been. This version of her was not the same one that he had taken the Doctor's hand from all those centuries ago, but the Face of Boe always told her his name when they met.

_How long until I have to leave? _The Face asked. Clara looked at her watch.

"A couple of hours," she said, "They're moving out all the paralyzed patients."

_I liked this hospital, _the Face said sadly.

"Me too," Clara agreed, "But we just don't have the funding to continue." She put her hand on his glass case, "I'll look for a job elsewhere. Will I see you again?"

_Perhaps, _the Face replied although truthfully he doubted it. Although Clara had, if one added together the lifetimes of all of her incarnations, lived as long as the Face of Boe, their meetings were few and far between and the Face knew that he was reaching the end of his life. The real end this time. Besides knowing Clara she would probably end up sacrificing herself for the Doctor. Sometimes she survived rescuing him but it happened far too rarely.

"Well goodbye Jack," said Clara, "Don't forget me."

"I'll never forget you Clara," the Face promised, speaking with his lips rather than his mind. Clara's eyes widened; he had never spoken to her with his mouth before. Not since he had been Jack Harkness many lifetimes ago.

Unlike the Doctor the Face of Boe remembered Clara. He never saw her again but at the end of his life, when he finally used up the last of his life force to open the Motorway, he told the Doctor that he'd always had someone watching over him. The fact that Yana was an acronym for the Face of Boes last words was an amazing coincidence but that was all it was; a coincidence. The Doctor assumed he was talking about another Time Lord – the Master of all people – but he wasn't. Eventually the Doctor would realise how much Clara had done for him.

"You are not alone."


	15. Dalek Caan

Dalek Caan saw her all over the timelines; the most faithful companion, the Impossible Girl. Forget Donna Noble. She was nothing compared to Clara Oswald. Of course the Doctor assumed that Caan was referring to Donna when he said that the most faithful companion would suffer everlasting death. He was wrong. Yes Donna would help save the Universe. Once. And then forget all about it. But Clara would save the Doctor, the most important man who had ever existed, a million times over. And she would die a million times; if that wasn't everlasting death, Caan didn't know what was. And her true self would remember every single life.

Caan felt sorry for Clara. She had spent all those centuries running to save the Last of the Time Lords. And he rarely noticed her. But that was the way it had to be. Time was cruel and it would keep Clara and the Doctor apart until the Doctor was in such a miserable state that he literally _needed _to notice Clara in order to return to save the Universe.

Caan saw Clara. She was right there, in the Vault. And she was screaming. Davros didn't normally convert humans, generally using his own cells but once in a while he would order the Daleks to spare a victim so he could convert them. There were at least three other Daleks who had been converted from humans.

Davros loved to hear them scream.

Caan used to feel the same way. Not anymore. And the worst part was that Clara would suffer the same fate in another life, when she went by the name of Oswin. But Caan couldn't help her. Davros had no idea who he was converting. And it would cost him dearly.

Once the conversion was complete and Davros had left to converse with the Supreme Dalek, Caan spoke.

"Clara Oswald," he said. His fellow Dalek turned her eyestalk and looked straight at him, "You are not a Dalek. Remember that. You fought a Dalek conversion before, or you will fight it in the future." He rubbed his head with his tentacles, "So many timelines; I cannot tell if you save the Doctor in the Dalek Asylum in the past or the future."

"What are you talking about Dalek?" Clara spoke in a Dalek's voice but Caan could hear her hatred for him. He didn't feel offended. He had hated himself for a long time.

"This is not the only time you will be converted into a Dalek," Caan told her.

"You can only be converted once," Clara replied.

"Not when you have a million lives," Caan said sadly, "I am sorry."

"No you're not," Clara said turning away. She didn't ask about the a million lives part. Caan guessed she was too depressed about her conversion.

"I am," insisted Caan, "I'm not like the rest of them. Neither are you. You never will be. But you must be careful. Davros needs to think you really are a Dalek."

"I am not a Dalek!" Clara screamed whirling to face him. Her gun trembled violently as if she was resisting the urge to shoot him.

"I know," Caan said trying to speak gently but being gentle wasn't something he'd had much practice at. After all until recently he'd been as brutal and sadistic as Davros, "But Davros needs to think that you are. The Universe depends on it."

"Why?" Clara asked.

"Because you must use you're hacking skills to get into the pathweb, like you did or will do in the Dalek Asylum, and connect all the Daleks to that control panel," Caan said waving his tentacles at the Vault's controls, "Except me. Or you can connect me," he cackled crazily, "I don't care. Just make sure all of them are linked. Donna Noble and the Doctor will take care of the rest."

Whilst waiting for Davros to steal all the planets needed to transmit the Reality Bomb, Caan bonded with Clara. She was the only living being that he had ever cared about and he cherished her company. She helped him hold onto what was left of his sanity and remain focussed on his goal of obliterating the Daleks. He helped her overcome her depression about being turned into a Dalek and convinced her not to self-destruct whenever she felt suicidal. Caan told Clara about her millions of lives and assured her that some of them ended happily. He and Clara both eagerly anticipated the day when Davros' Dalek Empire would be obliterated.

Clara was still in the Vault when the Doctor and his companions arrived. She had connected all the Daleks except herself, Caan and the three other Daleks who had been converted from humans to the control panel. The Meta-Crisis Doctor blew them all up. The three survivors would return but the Doctor would have to deal with them later. Clara couldn't bring herself to connect those three Daleks to the controls. She saw the human DNA that was left in them and felt as though she would be murdering another trio of humans if she did.

"One will still die," Caan warned the Doctor as he fled from the Crucible. In the flames the Doctor failed to notice a surviving Dalek moving towards Caan. Davros was dead. The Doctor closed the door of the TARDIS. He never realised that he had left one of his Children of Time behind.

Caan and Clara watched as the Time Machine faded. Caan couldn't save himself. He was too badly damaged from breaking into the Time War and even if he wasn't he wanted to die. Clara could escape by using an Emergency Temporal Shift but Caan knew she wouldn't for two reasons. The first reason was that she had wanted to die ever since her conversion and the second was that she never abandoned people she cared about.

For the first and last time in his life, Caan knew what it felt like to have a friend.


	16. Martha Jones

"Martha Jones!" called the voice of a young woman as Martha stumbled through the freezing cold. The Year That Never Was had begun only a week ago. During that week Martha had simply been doing her best to avoid the Toclefane. This woman was the first survivor she'd seen in this part of the world.

The dark skinned young woman hugged herself as she turned to the light skinned young woman squinting through the wind and rain. She couldn't have been older than Martha. Possibly she was several years younger.

"Who are you?" Martha asked.

"Lara Montague," the woman replied, "And I can give you food, drink and shelter. Come with me." Martha hesitated but she knew she could trust this woman. Lara led her across the field towards a farmhouse which was, miraculously, completely undamaged. Either the Toclefane hadn't noticed it or they hadn't thought it was worth their time.

The house was chilly but much warmer than the fields outside. Lara lit her small fireplace and offered Martha a mug of hot chocolate and a soufflé. Martha gratefully accepted.

"I've heard of you," Lara said sitting on a sofa, "The Master's furious that you escaped from the Valiant."

"You know about the Valiant?" Martha said in surprise.

"When you've got lethal spheres descending on the Earth, you want to know why they're here," Lara said and gestured to a computer lying open on a desk in the corner of the room, "I've been looking them up. I also hacked into one of the Master's satellites. When there are fifteen of them one doesn't really care if one goes a bit faulty. Then I looked up the Master and learned about the Valiant. I even found a file that was sent to Torchwood by someone called Vivian Rook. Then I found out about the other Time Lord, the one called the Doctor, and the immortal man, Jack Harkness." Martha looked at her. This woman knew things that nobody beside herself and the people on the Valiant should know. She even knew the Doctor and Jack's names. Still Martha trusted her even though others may have found her knowledge suspicious.

"How did you hack into the satellites?" she asked. Lara smiled.

"I'm a genius," she said simply and then turned serious, "The Master's got to be stopped. I assume you have a plan?"

"Sort of," mumbled Martha, "The Doctor said I had to tell a story." She thought Lara would scoff or laugh or simply stare incredulously. But she didn't. She looked at Martha as if it was the most sensible suggestion in the world. Which right now it probably was since the world was ending.

"So tell me a story," Lara leaned back on the sofa. And Martha did. She told Lara about her travels with the Doctor, about Utopia, the future kind, Jack's immortality, the Master's regeneration and theft of the TARDIS and the Doctor's plan to defeat his old enemy.

When she'd finished Lara whistled, "That's quite a story," she said and then leaned forwards, "Okay so you're plan is to tell the story all over the world and hope that the telepathic field can be turned against the Master if everyone on the planet thinks one word at exactly the right moment. Crazy plan but sometimes those are the best ones. But if the Master's a Time Lord, he might have the Doctor's level of intelligence. You've got to stop him from figuring it out."

"How?" Martha asked. Lara smiled again.

"A distraction," she said, "Pretend you're looking for a weapon to kill him. He'll be too worried about his own life to focus on your real purpose. And I can help you spread the word through my computer. Since I've hacked into one of the satellites, it'll be easy to turn the Master's own telepathic field against him. You can't do this on your own."

"I know," Martha said, "What if the Master finds you're messages on the Internet?" Lara shrugged.

"He'll think I'm just a terrified little human begging for someone to save us," she said, "I won't send the message as a story. I'll send the message as a plea. A plea for the Doctor."

One year later everyone repeated Lara's plea for the Doctor. Those who didn't have or use the Internet were instructed by Martha to do the same. The Master was defeated, time reversed and life went back to normal.

Lara only lived three months after Martha visited before the Toclefane found her. She was the only person who wasn't revived when the world returned to normal. Only Martha remembered that she had even existed. This incarnation of Clara Oswald had served her purpose and the callous Universe saw no point in resurrecting her.

After all she was just an echo.


	17. The Watcher

Oswin Montague was dying. Her illness had been getting worse since childhood and by the time she was twenty all of her muscles except from her heart had stopped working and she had to move around in a wheelchair, which she moved with her thoughts. But she had a plan to keep herself alive and hopefully give herself a body that would actually work.

Oswin was friends with an ingenious, albeit slightly mad, scientist called Professor Chronotis who had promised her that he could create a new body and transfer her soul into it. Although his memory was failing as he was a centuries old Time Lord, Oswin trusted him and besides she would do anything to not have to be confined to her wheelchair for the rest of her life.

The experiment, which until now had only been tested on animals, failed. The Great Intelligence, who did not currently have a physical form, slipped into Chronotis' machine and sabotaged the process. It went into the chamber where Oswin's new body was. The body was white, frozen and currently featureless because Chronotis had designed the machine to allow the soul inhabiting its new body to choose how to shape it. Theoretically it could even change a patient's gender. Oswin wanted to have the same body she'd had before, except she wanted all her muscles to be working.

Lights flashed and alarms blared. Chronotis struggled to stabilise the machine which was basically two chambers with an invisible tunnel between them through which a soul would pass from one chamber to the other. Oswin's soul made it through but her new body somehow resisted her attempts to change it into a copy of her previous body. When she stepped out of the chamber where her new body had been built, she immediately knew that something was wrong. Oswin tried to speak. She couldn't. Her vocal cords wouldn't work. Her body felt wrong. She didn't even feel like a girl anymore.

The worst part was that Oswin could feel that she was still dying. The entire experiment had been a waste of time. The Great Intelligence had not stopped the process but it had caused enough damage to ensure that Oswin would only live as long as she would have in the wheelchair.

"Oswin dear?" asked Chronotis cautiously, "Are you alright?" Oswin looked at him and tried to speak again. She frowned in frustration. Chronotis checked his scanner, "You're soul survived but your new body…it's failing and according to this everything about you has changed, even your gender." He glanced up at her and tried to reassure her, "Being a boy's not so bad. At least male humans don't have to go through childbirth." Oswin was glad to know that her new body could still roll its eyes. Chronotis looked back at the scanner. "Something's gone wrong. It seems something got into the machine just as your soul was passing through. You're body's dying just like your previous one." He pressed a few buttons on his control panel, "I can slow down the process but your body will eventually disintegrate," he looked at Oswin, "Or I can end it for you now. If you wish."

Oswin wanted to die. The experiment had failed. She could move but that was the only good thing about her new body. She was still dying and her new body was completely different from her previous one. At least her previous body had been beautiful even if the muscles hadn't worked. Although she was feeling suicidal, Oswin knew it wasn't her time, no matter how miserable she felt. There was something she had to do first. She shook her head to tell Chronotis that she couldn't die yet.

Oswin walked slowly around Chronotis' lab, getting used to her new body. She looked at her hands. They were very white. She reached up to touch her hair. She didn't have any. She looked down at her chest. She didn't have any breasts. In fact she didn't seem to have anything on her body except her eyes, nose and ears which she had managed to form before the Intelligence disabled the machines ability to build the body according to the wishes of the person.

"If it's any comfort," Chronotis said cautiously, "I know you're still the same lovely girl who came into my laboratory in a wheelchair five years ago. Whatever got into the machine and sabotaged your body cannot change who you are on the inside."

Then Oswin sensed an evil presence leaving the lab. Something invisible was laughing at her. She clenched her fists in anger. The laugh was familiar. Something had deliberately destroyed her chance to have a happy life and doomed her to live in another dying body. And, just to rub salt in the wound, the evil entity had changed her new body so much that only a Sontaran would guess that she was a woman.

Oswin travelled in her dying body until she found the Fourth Doctor. She became known by him and his companions as the Watcher, for she watched them from afar until the Doctor's regeneration and transported his companions when he couldn't do so himself. Chronotis had allowed her to borrow his TARDIS, which Oswin kept in her pocket when she wasn't using it, as he knew that she had always wanted to travel and he wanted to make her last few months as enjoyable as possible. He had also implanted a telepathic chip in her skull to allow her to communicate with the Doctor and Adric and make up for the fact that she couldn't actually speak.

Eventually the Fourth Doctor fell to his death. Oswin, who was by now very close to dying herself, stepped towards the Doctor after using the Fast Return switch to send Chronotis' TARDIS back to him. Her body was disintegrating as Chronotis had predicted. She merged with the Doctor, hoping to ease both his regeneration and her own death. It felt very…intimate. And familiar. As if she had merged with the Doctor before.

The Doctor's companions assumed that Oswin was another version of the Doctor. Oswin didn't even feel annoyed with them for mistaking her for a version of the man dying on the ground. The only feeling she had was a sense of relief. She was finally free.

Then the Fourth Doctor regenerated into the Fifth. Oswin remained attached to him for the rest of his life, a link between the Doctor and the original Clara. That link allowed Clara's original self to survive falling into the Doctor's time stream.

The Doctor, being an unobservant idiot even in his Eleventh incarnation who pretended to be a great detective, didn't even noticed the bond.


	18. Melody Pond

After her regeneration was complete the now dark skinned Melody examined her new body. It was very different from her old one but still the body of a child. She still aged at the same rate as a full Human.

"Hello?" called a voice. Melody whirled. A beautiful girl stood behind her. She appeared to have just come out of a night club.

"What do you want?" snapped Melody.

"No need to be rude, I'm just seeing if you're alright," said the girl.

"I've just regenerated," Melody said then remembered that the girl shouldn't know about that. The girl raised a slender eyebrow.

"I don't know what you mean by that but I don't think it's good for you to stay on the streets," she said, "Come with me. I can give you a place to stay in my home." Melody had never been told not to trust strangers. She followed the girl rather grumpily but without hesitation.

"Clara Leaf you're late home again!" said a woman who was probably Clara's mother except she looked nothing like her. Clara was small and slender while her mother was tall and fat. Melody looked at the father who was broad and muscular. The most striking difference between the parents and their daughter, was that, despite the fact they actually were Clara's mother and father, they were both black and Clara was white.

"I'm eighteen years old," snapped Clara, "I can come home whenever I like."

"Not as long as you live under this roof young lady," snapped her father.

"Well I won't be under this roof much longer," Clara said.

"Who's that?" asked her mother noticing Melody. Her last incarnation would have been shy but Melody surprised everyone, including herself, by striding straight into the house without being invited.

"I'm Melody," she said, "I've been living on the streets." Clara's father looked at his daughter disapprovingly. She looked defiant.

"She's just a kid," she said, "I couldn't leave her all alone out there. She's staying with us until we can find her parents!" Melody's ears pricked up at that. She knew who her mother and father were. She even knew the name of the place where they lived but had no idea where Leadworth was.

When Clara moved out to go travelling with her boyfriend, Melody insisted on going with her. It had taken a long time to persuade her but in the end Clara relented and paid to take her to England. Her boyfriend hated Melody and Melody hated him.

In the end Melody was the reason Clara and her boyfriend broke up. The girl felt guilty. Clara was like an older sister to her and she had ruined her relationship.

"It's okay Mels," said Clara, "He wasn't right for me anyway." Melody still felt bad but she was glad that Clara had called her by her nickname as it showed that she wasn't angry with her. Melody liked being called Mels.

Clara and Melody lived in London together for a while. Then they went to the country and eventually settled in Leadworth. They were an odd pair, like sisters without parents and at first people wondered if Clara was an irresponsible guardian since she had taken her eight year old "sister" with her despite the fact that her parents could look after Melody in New York. Sometimes Clara scolded Melody as though she was her mother but most of the time she acted like an older sister. Neither of them cared what their neighbours thought of them. Clara was the first person that Melody had formed a genuine attachment to. The first person that Melody loved and felt loved by in return.

Of course she wasn't happy when Clara forced her to go to school. But her attitude changed when she met Amy Pond and Rory Williams. Thanks to Clara, Melody had been reunited with her long lost parents. However she often got into trouble and caused Clara no end of exasperation.

Clara got married when she was twenty seven and gave birth to a girl, Annie, who looked identical to her. She saw the Eleventh Doctor at Amy and Rory's wedding shortly after giving birth to Annie. Thirteen years later Annie died, saving an old man, the First Doctor, from being knocked over by a car. Clara had two more children, both of them boys, but never forgave the old man who had cost Annie her life simply because he wasn't watching when he crossed the road.

Clara died of old age, a rare treat in her echo lives. In this life her purpose had, for once, not been to rescue the Doctor. This time she had been born to reunite Melody with her parents therefore setting her on the path to becoming River Song.


	19. Mickey Smith

Mickey Smith had a huge crush on his beautiful teacher Jenna Leaf. She was only about three years older than him and had only just started her job as an ICT teacher. Mickey was in his final year at college studying computers. Jenna was very friendly and affectionate towards her students and allowed them to call her by her first name which made Mickey like her even more. She recognised his talent for computers and helped him develop it.

"You're a natural hacker Mickey," she told him one day.

"Thanks Jenna but I'm nowhere near as good as you," Mickey replied typing away at his keyboard.

"Keep it up and one day you will be," Jenna told him, "Just don't use those skills to launch missiles or anything like that." She moved off to speak with another student. Mickey watched her bottom and noticed a couple of other boys doing the same. Either Jenna didn't notice the attention or she simply ignored it.

Then one boy reached out and slapped her bottom.

Jenna whirled around and her normally friendly face was now filled with rage.

"Adam don't you ever do that again!" she yelled.

"But you've got such a lovely ass," Adam protested.

"I'm a teacher and you're a student," Jenna snapped, "Calling me Jenna is one thing; slapping me on the bottom is completely out of order. Don't do it again!"

"I'm sorry," Adam said meekly. Nobody had ever seen Jenna really lose her temper before. Mickey found himself becoming even more attracted to her. However he knew she would react the same way as she had with Adam if he tried to make a move on her. He turned back to his computer and continued typing.

Mickey got to know Jenna well but never tried to make a move. Jenna allowed him to give her a hug on his last day and asked him to put the hacking skills she had helped him develop to good use. Mickey lost contact with her when he left college. However during the incident with the Ninth Doctor and the Slitheen family, Mickey remembered the time when Jenna had asked him not to launch missiles.

He launched them anyway, because the Slitheen had to be stopped. But he felt like he had let Jenna down when he pressed the button, even though he had just saved the world.


	20. Amy Pond

Amy was out shopping when she saw two men wearing eye patches. They were watching her closely ignoring the strange stares they were receiving due to the eye patches. Amy assumed they were attracted to her so she winked at them and deliberately showed them her bum as she leaned over to examine some merchandise.

"She _is_ a slut," muttered one of the men to his partner.

"One of the leaders told me she once tried to shag that filthy time travelling scum," said the other, "On the night before her wedding too! What a whore!"

Behind them a Silent watched and remembered when it hung from the ceiling of Amy's room while she tried to shag the Doctor on the night before her wedding. The Silent then slipped away as silently as the name of its species would imply.

Amy left the shop but the men followed after her. Amy moved into an alley and then faltered as the Silent from the shop appeared.

"Oh great," said Amy, "What kind of alien are you?"

"It's with us," said one of the men, "Evidently you haven't seen the moon landing yet."

"Why do I need to see that?" Amy forgot the Silent when she turned to face them.

"So you can kill them on sight," said the other man.

"Kill what?" Amy asked. The men pointed behind her. She turned and jumped. The Silent was much closer.

"Seize her!" croaked the Silent and Amy screamed as the two men grabbed her arms.

Suddenly another woman appeared in the alley. She seemed to be a couple of years older than Amy and was very beautiful, arguably even more beautiful than the red head. The woman attacked one of the men from behind and knocked him to the ground, even though he was taller than she was. Amy fought her way free of the other.

"Leave her alone you animals!" shouted Clair Coleman to the two men, whom she evidently assumed were rapists. Then she saw the Silent and remembered the moon landing. She lunged at the Silent, intending to tear it apart with her bare hands but the two men held her back. "What the hell is that thing?"

"Our master," said one man, "And you're getting in our way Clara Oswald."

"My name is Clair Coleman," Clair said. She wrenched herself free but her bloodlust had died quickly as the post hypnotic suggestion of "you should kill us all on sight" wore off since she had not killed the Silent on sight.

"That is not your true name," croaked the Silent, "The Silence knows what happened to Clara Oswald. We know she dies a million times in the Doctor's grave on Trenzalore."

"Grave on Trenzalore?" asked Amy who was near the edge of the alley by now.

"That is where the tyrant is buried," said the Silent.

"He's not a tyrant!" Amy cried.

"He has slaughtered billions," the Silent said, "In the case of Clara Oswald he has caused her countless centuries of suffering. And he doesn't even have the decency to notice her!" It hesitates, "Admittedly that is partially the Silence's fault but we cannot be there to make him forget every single one of her incarnations. There are many more Clara Oswald's running around the Universe than my entire species."

"I'm not Clara Oswald," Clair said, "My name is Clair and I'm telling you all to leave this woman alone!"

"Or what?" sneered one of the men.

"Or this!" Clair kicked him in the balls and he collapsed in agony. Clair punched the other in the nose, turning away from the Silent and forgetting it in the process, "Run!" Clair and Amy ran towards the end of the alley. They darted out into the street and nearly ran headlong into a mother and her child, who started yelling at them for not watching where they were going. After apologising and escaping from the woman Amy turned to her rescuer.

"You know you look exactly like my best friends older sister Clara," she said.

"I do?" asked Clair, "Well that's a coincidence. Maybe she's my long lost twin or something. Although as far as I know I don't have a twin." She looked at her watch, "Anyway I'm late for a date. See you."

She left and the bewildered Amy watched her go wondering why she looked identical to Mels' adopted older sister Clara Leaf. Then Amy heard the sound of the TARDIS but instead of materialising it flew overhead. Amy looked up and sighed in exasperation.

"Lost control of your box again did you Raggedy Man?" she muttered as the TARDIS jerked all over the place before disappearing into the clouds.

Later (or as far as history was concerned, earlier) during the adventure in America, the Silence caught Amy and turned her into a Flesh Avatar just before the Doctor and Canton Delaware tricked one of them into ordering the human race to kill them all on sight. The Doctor thought Amy was taken before she even went to America. If not for Clair, she would have been but if that had been the case the Silence wouldn't have had to kidnap her in Melody Pond's orphanage.


End file.
